ERIE Pa.—The Franciscan University Lady Barons basketball team fell victim to another early first half run by their opponent, this time in the form of a 15-0 run in the first five minutes by the Penn State Behrend Lady Lions. The run gave Behrend an 18-3 lead they never relinquished. The Lady Barons were defeated 75-51. 

After the early Behrend run, the Lady Barons fought basket-for-basket with the Lady Lions, matching Behrend's points 24-24 over the last 15 minutes of the half.

"We played well at times. We made some improvements on our defense and that's good," said head coach Luke Heusel.

It was senior night for the Lady Lions as they honored guard Amy Oldach. Oldach did her part in helping Behrend solidify the early lead, knocking down two three-pointers as part of six team long-balls in the first half, and ten total three-pointers on the night.

Franciscan's freshman guard Hannah Flanagan stood out in Coach Heusel's mind on both ends of the floor. "Hannah had a good game; I've been pleased with her play defensively and her toughness on offense." Flanagan finished with a game-high of 21 points while Molly Coogan chipped in with 15 for the Lady Barons.

"We had too many turnovers, but we did also force some turnovers" Heusel added. "Our defensive intensity was, at times, very good."

This year has admittedly been a time of learning and growing for the young Lady Barons squad and their first-year head coach, and Heusel reiterated the fact that his team learns something new every game. "What we're learning is, you have to have a high level of intensity on offense and defense the whole game or else you'll get beat. Every time we play, we learn a little bit more. Right now, you have to go through learning what it takes to win at this level, and we're learning."

The Lady Barons are now 3-18 overall and 2-14 in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference. The team travels to La Roche College on Wednesday to take on the Lady Red Hawks in their final away game of the year. Tipoff is 6 p.m.